THEIR FAITH INTACT afteryears of
bloodshed, nomads face west toward Mecca
from the desert near Qandaharto offer the
fourth offive daily Muslim prayers.Belief
in God's mercy and compassion,a key com
ponent of Islam, will serve Afghans well as
they return home from years of exile and
fighting to begin the arduoustask of
rebuildingtheirstricken land.
"I do know this," Muslim says. "Since
the day we took Kabul, we have had mujahi
din groups backed by Iran fighting groups
backed by Pakistan fighting groups backed by
Saudi Arabia and God Almighty knows who
else. If the foreigners would just leave
us alone, I promise you we would be a lot
better off."
IN THE LAST DAYS of my visit, even Kabul
begins to revive. At the shoemakers
bazaar, dozens of merchants with
dusty gray beards sit cross-legged tend
ing to customers. Glorious burgundy
carpets hang in the shopwindows of Chicken
Street, which got its name from a poultry mar
ket that has long since moved. Blossoms and
bouquets are still sold on Flower Street, but
so are caviar and cornflakes and Pepsi-Cola
from Dubayy.
Yet even now there is danger here. As my
friend Ramazan and I stand on a city street one
morning waiting to buy bread, a shot rings out
and Ramazan falls into my arms. He has been
shot in the leg.
Ramazan is lucky. The bullet does little
damage. But we argue in the car as I drive him
from the hospital to his small mud-brick cot
tage in an impoverished northwestern suburb.
"Why would anyone want to shoot you?"
I ask, frustrated.
"Who knows. This is a lawless place."
"Then why do you stay here?"
"Where would I go? I have to protect my
family. What would I do?"
"You should think about the future."
"I can't afford to. It's hard enough trying
to stay alive today, never mind tomorrow."
The same could be said about Afghanistan.
The days that follow are fraught with peril.
The economy has been obliterated. The inter
im government in Kabul is paralyzed. Across
the country, schools, hospitals, and mosques
must be rebuilt.
The next year would bring terrible blood
shed to Kabul. As Defense Minister to Presi
dent Burhanuddin Rabbani, Ahmad Shah
Massoud would battle to hold the ancient capi
tal, but his arch rival, Gulbuddin Hekmatyar,
would launch wave after wave of rocket and
artillery attacks. More than 6,000 civilians
would die. One fragile cease-fire after another
would be broken. Sections of Kabul would be
reduced to rubble.
I am wondering about Afghanistan's future
as I stand in the hallway outside Massoud's
office on the palace grounds. I am waiting for
the former guerrilla leader to finish a meeting
with the Russian ambassador before rejoining
NationalGeographic, October1993